Christian Life in the Psalms

Week 3: From Law to Love

Unison reading (see supplementary handout for Psalm 1 in English and in Hebrew)

Some features of the Psalter (drawing throughout from James Limburg, "Psalms, Book of," Anchor Bible Dictionary [ed. D. N. Freedman; New York: Doubleday, 1992], vol. 5, pp. 522–36)

• Book 1, Psalms 1–41 (41 psalms). Titles with David connections.
• Book 2, Pss 42–72 (31 psalms). Pss 42–49 have titles connected with "sons of Korah." Pss 42–83 are "Elohistic Psalms." Duplicates of Book 1 Psalms: Ps 53 (cf. Ps 14); Ps 70 (cf. Ps 40:13–17). David psalms at the end: 51–65; 68–70.
• Book 3, Pss 73–89 (17 psalms). Most of the community laments. Pss 73–80 have Asaph titles.
• Book 4, Pss 90–106 (17 psalms). Most of the psalms of YHWH’s kingship (Pss 93; 95–99). Several hymns (Pss 103–106).
• Book 5, Pss 107–50 (44 psalms). Davidic psalms at beginning and end. Pss 120–124 are the "Songs of Ascent." Pss 146–150 are "hallelujah psalms."

• Different schemes of classification. Criteria are based on form and content. Different scholars have different lists. Limburg lists these commonly cited types:
• Laments. Community laments: times of national crisis; typically addressing God, expressing the complaint, asking for help, stating trust in God, promising to praise God after deliverance. Individual laments have the same elements.
• Hymns. The whole community is called upon to praise God. Themes include God’s mighty work of creation and deeds in history. Includes Kingship of YHWH hymns (also called enthronement psalms).
• Thanksgiving songs. Thanks to God for help in a particular crisis (forgiveness of sin, healing from sickness). The individual gives thanks in the presence of the whole assembly. There are also community thanksgiving psalms.
• Royal psalms. Composed for events in the life of a king.
• Songs of Zion. Celebrating God’s presence at Jerusalem.
• Liturgies. Antiphonal dialogues, or words meant to accompany specific acts of ceremonial worship.
• Wisdom and Torah psalms. Reflections on life in the world: piety, work, rest, family, community life.
• These classifications refer to the origins of the psalms in the life of Israel and should not be confused with later Christian interpretive classifications such as "Messianic psalms" and "penitential psalms"—which we will look at in later sessions

1. Parallelism

• Synonymous (e.g., "His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own pate his violence descends," Ps 7:16)
• Antithetic (e.g., "The Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin," Ps 1:6)
• Statement and reason (e.g., "Blessed be the Lord! for he has heard the voice of my supplication," Ps 28:6)
• Question and answer (e.g., "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to thy word," Ps 119:9)
• Other permutations

2. Acrostics

• Examples: Pss 25, 34, 111, 112, 145; 9–10; esp. 119. Cf. Prov 31:10–31.

• Peeling back the layers: current Christian parlance, the Protestant Reformation, the New Testament.
• Hebrew torah: after the Exile, codified law; before the Exile, instruction.
• The "Torah psalms": 1, 19, 119.
• Synonyms for law in Ps 19:8–12.
• In Ps 119: no mention of Sinai and particular institutions of the Mosaic code. Synonyms for "law" or "instruction."

• As an introduction to the whole Psalter: the Psalter as instruction and as scripture (cf. five books)
• "Happy": cf. the two Hebrew words for "blessed."
• Two ways: what makes the essential difference between the wicked and the righteous?
• Hebrew yehegeh in v. 2: what does it mean to "study" or "meditate on" the torah of the Lord? Cf. the lion in Isa 31:4; the dove in Isa 38:14; the thunder in Job 37:2 (all the same verb hagah).
• Why it makes sense for the Psalmist to say "O, how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day" (119:97).